China's Belt and Road Initiative

The following sections are included:

• About the Contributors
• Contents
• Preface

The following sections are included:

• The Belt and Road Initiative: Background and Development Status
• HSR
• Healthcare Cooperation Amid Covid-19: Building a Community of Common Health for Mankind
• Health Silk Road: Opportunities and the Future
• Concluding Remarks
• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Development of MCKIP
• Implications of MCKIP to Local Communities
• Conclusion
• References

Ever since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, alongside burgeoning infrastructure building, trade, and investment, there has been an increased mobility of people, thereby resulting in a corresponding rise in the volume of migration. Moreover, China has taken a broad interest in potential investment opportunities in the Belt and Road regions, cutting across religious and language divides. BRI seeks to address several challenges, such as in the areas of culture, health, and community security. China has actively fostered friendships and forged comprehensive cooperation with countries and regions that are part of the BRI on cultural, educational, tourist, health and medical, and scientific and technological fronts. This chapter focuses on human mobility in ASEAN arising from significant investments in BRI — as expected, there is increasing migration of Chinese human resources, international students, migrant entrepreneurs, and families. BRI has created more jobs in the local economies, along with the associated risks stemming from cultural conflict and dimensions of health.

This chapter provides a brief overview of the available dispute settlement regimes and their functional utility concerning the challenges of varying nature of multifaceted future disputes in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). BRI is an ambitious economic venture conceived by China, unveiled in 2013, which focuses mainly on economic cooperation in the Belt and Road region. This venture has gained the acceptance of several countries worldwide, and the number of member states is rapidly increasing, which results in the engagement of entities from the BRI member states in large-scale economic transactions. This venture will definitely result in a number of disputes of different nature and scale, which need an efficient, trustworthy, and functional dispute settlement mechanism to keep the BRI projects moving. An analysis of the existing dispute settlement mechanisms is made in this chapter focusing on the pros and cons of each followed by a discussion of the challenges faced by BRI in the context of dispute settlement mechanism. It also includes an evaluation of the proposed dispute settlement mechanism for BRI in the form of a “Blue Book” published by the International Academy of the Belt and Road (IABR), Hong Kong.

New strategic China–ASEAN relations have been formed since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) began with a visionary blueprint to promote long-term regional economic cooperation. Along with strategic cooperation, green finance is an important determinant to justify the rationale of the infrastructure projects in complying with environmental sustainability goals. With the transformation of economic growth and development of society, green development has become one of the most urgent agendas in China and the world. The implementation of BRI in the past few years has encountered questions from host countries and international society that led to increasing attention to the green development modes. In response, we first review the sustainable development goals and green finance agenda in the BRI Framework, and the green finance initiatives in the China–ASEAN economic development ties. Using this as a backdrop, we then study the green finance groundwork deployed by a Chinese state-owned financial institution and assess the features of a green finance infrastructure project. Finally, we discuss the implications and suggestions for green finance sustainability in China–ASEAN economic cooperation under the BRI framework. Our study sets out to understand more clearly the implementation of green finance under the BRI projects and prospects for the sustainable integration of green finance and the BRI in ASEAN.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Comparison and Contrast of ASEAN’s Role in Ancient Silk Road to 21^st Century BRI
• Policy Recommendations
• Conclusion
• References

It still seems challenging to find solutions to the environmental issues confronting human beings after almost four decades of the convening of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 (Stockholm Conference), which was a historical step in addressing environmental issues. States and environmental organizations, both at national and international levels, are making efforts and pursuing their own plans to mitigate environmental hazards. These multipronged environmental challenges are outside the capacity of any single state or institute and need global consensus to work in unison and adapt measured responses to minimize these climate change effects. Regional collaborations are very weak in this regard, and the case of developing nations and regions is even worse. The developing world is not only more vulnerable to environmental challenges but also the status of environmental governance in those regions remains very disappointing. South Asia is no exception to this scenario, being home to more than one-fourth of the world population and facing problems of weak institutions, corrupt enforcement agencies, weak laws, issues of transparency and accountability, and fragile rule of law, all of which contribute to painting a flimsy picture in terms of environmental governance. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambitious economic venture conceived by China that mainly focuses on development projects of multiple nature and huge scale, which have all the potential to cast a negative effect on the already deteriorating environmental landscape of South Asia, if not handled carefully. This situation needs an immediate attention to work in this regard, and responsible efforts are required to create a balance between development and environmental protection so that the goal of sustainable development can be achieved for the betterment of the people of South Asia.

China’s foreign direct investments (FDI) in general and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in particular have invoked mixed reactions and inconsistent responses from the neighboring Southeast Asian countries. This is particularly true in case of Myanmar. Over the past few years, Myanmar has been rather inconsistent in responding to China’s investments. This was primarily due to Myanmar’s compulsion to attract easy foreign investments that do not press for enabling investment conditions and basic facilities of international standards on one hand, and simmering domestic opposition and protests against major Chinese projects on the other. Myanmar’s relations with China have been driven by its desire to secure greater economic benefits while tirelessly dealing with the security and environmental challenges as well as people’s protests emanating from China’s growing investments in the country. This chapter argues that as the peoples’ voice gathered more force in Myanmar after the 2011 democratic reforms, Chinese investments faced more overt challenges in the country. The subsequent launch of China’s BRI projects in the country only firmed up the concerns and responses of common people and government of Myanmar. This chapter further establishes that BRI and Myanmar’s participation in it will remain a key component of China’s Myanmar policy. For Myanmar, it is crucial to secure investments from China but it remains to be seen how Myanmar continues to benefit from the BRI without compromising its environmental and related societal interests in the context of infrastructure investments from China.

As the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) continues to reach a broad consensus in the international community, China is actively establishing a community of economy, destiny, and responsibility with countries along the route to promote a development situation of sharing, universal prosperity, and mutual benefit. These measures can not only help Chinese enterprises to achieve their “Going Global” strategy in a better manner but also improve the economic development of countries along with the BRI, and even deepen the impact of the integrated development process on the world economy and social culture (Rauf et al., 2020). The Belt and Road is a brand-new round of opening up in China and has created rare historical opportunities. However, with the continuous deepening of development, various environmental problems have become increasingly significant, which has brought challenges to China and the countries along the route. Strengthening the protection of the environment in the Belt and Road is a manifestation of the “Shared Green Development” between China and the people of the world (Huang and Li, 2020; Cheng and Ge, 2020). It will also have far-reaching significance for sustainable development (Chen et al., 2020) of the world and the green and peaceful rise of China.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• FDI Institutions and Chinese Investments in Indonesia and Malaysia
• Development of IMIP and MCKIP
• Variations and Commonalities
• Conclusion
• References

Algeria and China historically share a positive bilateral relationship and strive for mutually beneficial development in the fields of politics, diplomacy, military, and economics. Algeria has strengthened its ties with China and joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with expectations of alleviating its accumulated economic crises, boosting growth rates, developing infrastructure, and attracting more foreign investments. One of the mega projects that China will accomplish in Algeria is a large port project under the BRI. Though China’s BRI could be a source of economic growth to Algeria and an alternative way to foster the development agenda, it is unclear how China’s BRI would impact the economic benefits, financial sovereignty, and national security in Algeria.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was introduced in 2013. However, the challenges include the lack of institutional and legal environments, high political risks, shortage of qualified expatriates, and the massive funding requirements. BRI infrastructure projects cover the construction of highways, railways, and seaports as well as facilities in terms of energy, telecommunications, healthcare, and education…

The following section is included:

• Index